Reactionary U.S. Presidents In Denial

An anthropologist from another world might marvel at it: the same little screen which has shown me King Lear so many times, with its deep tragic lessons of humility and loss, has also presented three decades of American Presidents engaged in hysterical nostalgia and denial:

• “America’s best days are yet to come.” (40^th President);
• “We’ve kicked Vietnam Syndrome forever!” (41^st);
• “We must never give in to the belief that America is in decline, or that our culture is doomed to unravel...”(43^rd).

Thou shalt find That I'll resume the shape which thou dost think I have cast off for ever...” (I, iv, 839).